Travel to picturesque locales was popular amongst well-off Victorian English tourists during the nineteenth century, whether within the British Isles or to more far-flung locales in the Middle East and elsewhere. The medium of photography made it possible for the less adventurous to engage intriguing sites without ever leaving home. Stereo views were a common means of home entertainment, obtained either as travel souvenirs, or as an introduction to unvisited places. A competitive market developed to meet this craving for images.
One of the photographers who actively participated in this commercial realm was Francis Bedford (1816–1894). The son of an architect, Bedford began his career as draftsman and lithographer in the 1840s, specializing in architectural subjects. Realizing that photography could be invaluable in recording buildings, he became a photographer in 1853, soon establishing a busy commercial practice specializing in landscape and architectural views. Working in the wet collodion process that had been introduced several years earlier, he made nearly 9,000 images over the course of his career, and he published several books of his work, including two Photographic Albums (1855–1856), The Treasury of Ornamental Art (1858), and The Sun Beam (1859). In 1854, Bedford’s prints were first exhibited at the recently established Photographic Society of London (he became the organization’s vice president in 1861), and for nearly thirty years he was a regular participant in their exhibitions.
Bedford owes much of his reputation to Queen Victoria as she was responsible for him receiving three royal commissions. In 1854, the Queen invited him to photograph works of art in the royal collections, and for the Prince Consort’s birthday in 1857, she sent Bedford to Germany to make pictures of Albert’s Bavarian birthplace in Coburg; nearly sixty prints were the result. His most famous group of prints were those he made in 1862, when he was amongst the small party that accompanied the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) on a four-month tour throughout the Middle East, visiting Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, and the Holy Land. Given only two-weeks’ notice to prepare, Bedford gathered double the amount of glass plates and chemicals he thought he might need, as he knew the hot and dusty conditions he would encounter would be challenging for someone working with collodion. They departed early in February and once he had arrived in the Middle East, he loaded his supplies from their boat onto mules when they visited sites away from the river. He encountered further difficulties with the swarms of insects that landed on his wet and sticky glass plates. The Prince kept a daily journal often making note of the photographer’s activities. By the time the expedition ended, Bedford had made nearly two hundred plates, and after the group’s return to England in June 1862, he worked hard on making prints. By July, he had made one hundred and seventy-two albumen prints which were displayed in an exhibition at the German Gallery on New Bond Street in the fashionable Mayfair neighborhood of London. As the first photographer to accompany a royal tour, there was great public interest in his prints, and this body of work helped establish his reputation; the work remains his best-known.1
Except for his work in the Middle East, Bedford spent his career in England, photographing the landscape and buildings in Devon, the Midlands, and Wales. As an architectural photographer, he recorded buildings ranging from castles to stately houses, from ancient timber-framed buildings to resort hotels. He had a particular interest in English churches. His stereo views were published in sets, and most of the ones in the Solari Foundation Collection are from the series “North Wales Illustrated.”
One of the most intriguing images from his Welsh work is Bettws-y-Coed-Fors-Noddyn (The Fairy Glen), No. 3, a magically luminous image that records a river scene, stretching back into the distance well beyond what the viewer can see. The rocks in the foreground lead the viewer’s eye into the mists that hover above the stream making it appear thick and in motion. Bettsw-y-Coed (whose name means “prayer house in the wood”) is a small village in north Wales on the highroad to Holyhead (a major seaport for those embarking to Ireland), which is touted as “the Paradise of Wales.“ Not surprisingly it attracted many tourists, especially after the arrival of the railroad in 1868, and by 1907 a guidebook described the town as “overrun” by visitors during the summer season. Victorian-era travelers were elite tourists, filling the local hotels and cottages that speckled the countryside. To get there, visitors had to have the time and leisure for a seasonal journey. While the terrain was rugged, the “surpassingly beautiful”2 landscape offered visitors sublime views and a spiritual connection to a fabled region.
The local waters were the subject of myth and legend. An 1859 issue of the Cambrian Journal reprints a letter dating from 1693 describing a pool of water just above Bettws-y-Coed and the tale of a mythical creature, a lake monster named Afanc. The creature had been lured from the water by a beautiful maiden who after she chained him to her, fell asleep with his head on her knees, his hand gripping her breast. Furious when he awoke, Afanc fled back to his watery home so quickly that his claw carried with it the young woman’s breast. The story is a warning that the spiraling and fast moving waters are dangerous, and many deaths resulted from those foolish enough to swim there.3 North Wales’ rugged and untamed wilderness captured Bedford’s imagination as it did the tourists who purchased his views, and he returned regularly to the area to make photographs through the 1880s. Other picturesque Welsh sites by Bedford represented in the Solari Foundation Collection are the Devil’s Bridge, Mount Snowdon (the highest point in Wales), Nant-y-Glyn, Llanfairfechan, Pont Aberglaslyn, the Synchant Pass, and Capel Curig.
In 1884, at the age of sixty-eight Francis turned over his business operation to his son, William Bedford, and retired.
Shantih Schmid
Francis Bedford, Bettws-Y-Coed-Fors-Noddyn (the fairy glen), No. 3, c.1853-80, stereograph, (2) 8 x 7.7 cm, SOLARI 94.024.118L